What is stressful on the road? Analysis on aggression-inducing traffic situations through self-report

Abstract

An exploratory study was designed to understand how drivers perceive and interpret aggression and stress-inducing traffic situations. The goals of the study were to identify the most stressful situations to be used in a follow-on empirical study and to examine the relative rankings of stressful situations across demographic subgroups. Using a convenience sample, our findings support the results from previous studies that gender, history of driving, and driving experience play a significant role in perceiving and interpreting the intentions of others. Drivers who had prior violations and citations perceived others’ behaviors more negatively. Males had more situations related to others’ deliberate aggressive behaviors in their top 15 traffic situations, compared to females. Females had more environmental factors in their top 15 when compared to males. Continuing education and emphasis on improving the driving culture may be helpful in reducing the aggression toward others, especially when the communications between road users are primarily based on non-verbal observations.